Trump: Climate Change Clearly Not Priority

Political administration is often affected by idiosyncrasies of leaders. It is not new to come across incumbents with completely different agendas from the past leaders. Donald Trump may be someone beyond being ‘different’. His agenda for the US (and the world) may be unfathomable, to say the least.

His simple denial of the scientific fact of the climate change existence, via his tweets is perhaps more popular than Obamacare. He also believes that the Paris Agreement is almost irrelevant; an Agreement signed by 200 countries to emulate standards preventing the world’s current largest threat – global warming. Donald Trump’s policy-focus is on more important issues (per him). Elimination of serious diseases, developing of alternative energy sources, and Trump’s priority is to maintain the level of fresh water in the world are some of such issues. The question of the US not being in support of the climate change issue poses a significant question: Will the rest of the economies be able to accomplish something in this sphere, alone?

A similar approach has the libertarians believe that all the state measures are threats to the free-market principles. Proposals which do not compromise the invisible hand of the market are the trade with rights to pollution, information centres for citizens on how to reduce energy consumption, redirection to alternative energy sources, and the like. Despite such initiatives, two key concerns to be addressed are whether such initiatives are enough, and whether we are really threatened.

Global warming research has warned us of environmental aftermaths since almost a decade. Carbon and methane emissions, deforestations and undesired effects on the climate have delayed monsoons, accelerated winters and aggravated summers. Deforestation, especially, has aided in the increase of CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

There is more supporting data to confirm global warming fears. From 1880 to 2015, the earth has been warming about 1.7 degrees (F). (No wonder that parts of the world’s land ice have already begun to melt, while the oceans are growing rapidly). Infact, it has been found that the current heating level almost equals to the heat of 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. If that does not scare us enough, then read this about sea levels: global sea level rose 35 centimetres in the last century which is double the levels of the previous century. Surface temperatures have continuously risen in the oceans as well, by around 0.302 degrees (F), since 1969. Global warming is set to melt Greenland and the Antarctic ice sheets rapidly, around 36 cubic miles in four years. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons per year.

Such alarming consequences have left us in a sludge of questions about our prerogative. In the next 20-30 years, consequences of global warming will be felt; what awaits us in the distant future is worrying indeed. Nonetheless, today’s actions will play a vital role in initiating and continuing actions to preserve the environment and therefore the climate. Latest research gives us hope showing that the oceans can absorb excess heat on the planet, but how much of a solution that is, remains to be seen. In the meantime, we must hope that our planet is still able to survive and leaves generations ahead of us reaping benefits rather than afflictions of climate change. Our lives depend on the leaders of powerful economies, like Trump. We wait in hope that they will take their role seriously and incorporate crucial life-changing issues in their policies.